Is it just us, or does the fact that jeans company Levi Strauss & Co has commissioned Damien Hirst to design a few pieces for the spring season smack a bit of desperation?

Whatever, last Saturday evening, after the show at Gagosian gallery, which represents Mr. Hirst, nice Levi designer Adrian Nyman told us about the genesis of the collaboration, which took about four months.

"I had done a collection that Damien had bought at the Barneys department store that he really liked," he said. "So, he contacted me because he wanted to have more of the range"—Britspeak for line—"and through there we just struck up a rapport and I said, 'Would you like to do something?' I had this idea of Warhol with the new Warhol—you know, Damien has taken that torch. So, that was kind of the nexus that we jumped off from. And Damien created all this artwork just for the fashion show, so on many levels it was a great experience."

The resulting apparel: a pair of jeans, a mini skirt and a "Classic Trucker," all done in a rainbow striped pattern.